Bucky Barnes' 10 Most Tragic Moments

Don't let Bucky Barnes' looks deceive you; he's essentially a century old despite his appearance as a man in his 30s. Since his birth in the early 20th century, James "Bucky" Barnes has led many lives. He's been Captain America's trusty sidekick, the lethal brainwashed Winter Soldier, Steve Roger's successor, and a shadowy operative known as the Revolution.

Across his numerous masks and missions, tragedy followed Bucky at nearly every stage of his life. While Bucky may have lived a long life, it has hardly been an easy one. Let's look back through Bucky’s history and break down some of his most traumatic moments. Whether he operated as a hero or a villain, these tragedies forged Bucky Barnes into the man he is today.

LOSING HIS FAMILY

Before Bucky Barnes ever met Steve Rogers, he was orphaned following the death of both of his parents. As detailed in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY (2011) #620 by Ed Brubaker, Marc Andreyko, and Chris Samnee, Bucky's mother passed away early in his life, while his father died during a parachuting exercise at Camp Lehigh.

Major Samson, one of his father's friends, looked after Bucky and his young sister, Rebecca. While Rebecca eventually went to boarding school, Bucky stayed at Camp Lehigh, where he became the base’s unofficial mascot and resident troublemaker. At 16, Bucky received special operations training and began working with Captain America. He secretly carried out missions that were too sensitive for his super-soldier partner.

During World War II, Bucky lost touch with his sister. The two of them only reconnected when she was elderly.

BUCKY'S FINAL MISSION

Near the end of World War II, Bucky and Captain America both seemingly died trying to stop Baron Zemo's bomb-equipped plane from launching. Captain America barely touched the aircraft before falling into the North Atlantic Ocean, but Bucky caught onto the plane, his arm stuck to the aircraft.

When the plane exploded, the blast seemingly killed Bucky. However, he survived the explosion and froze in the Atlantic's icy waters, much like his partner. While the Avengers only recovered Steve Rogers' frozen body decades later, General Vasily Karpov found Bucky shortly after the war ended.

BECOMING WINTER SOLDIER

Once the Soviets recovered Bucky's body, they brainwashed him and gave him a bionic arm to replace the one he lost in the explosion. They transformed Bucky into the perfect assassin known as the Winter Soldier in CAPTAIN AMERICA (2004) #11 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.

The Soviets kept Bucky young by frequently putting him in suspended animation. Over the century, he unwillingly committed a lifetime of atrocities as the Winter Soldier. The Winter Solider killed world leaders, heroes like Jack Munroe, and even Wolverine's pregnant wife, Itsu.

Although flashes of his old personality tried to break through Bucky’s mental programming, Captain America only managed to restore his old partner's memories using the reality-warping Cosmic Cube. Bucky was horrified to learn what he had done and tried to atone for his crimes by choosing a hero's path.   
 

DEATH OF STEVE ROGERS

Bucky never had the chance to truly reconnect with Steve Rogers after recovering his memories; Captain America was seemingly assassinated in the wake of CIVIL WAR (2006).

The recently recovered Soviet operative did not handle the murder of his friend well. He watched Steve’s funeral alone in a bar and picked a fight. Still carrying guilt from his time as the Winter Soldier, Bucky thought Steve would be ashamed of him and decided to keep his distance from his old friend.

Bucky sought to avenge Steve by stealing his shield. When Bucky tried to kill Iron Man, the Armored Avenger shocked the trained assassin by offering him Captain America's mantle. The former Winter Soldier accepted the shield and kept his friend's legacy alive.

THE TRIAL OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 

When Steve Rogers returned and embraced Bucky as Captain America, Baron Zemo revealed the Winter Soldier's history to the world. Bucky's friends and allies tried to defend him, but multiple governments demanded he answer for his crimes in CAPTAIN AMERICA (2004) #611 by Ed Brubaker and Daniel Acuna.

Although the American courts found Bucky not guilty due to his brainwashed state, the Russian government extradited and imprisoned him in a gulag for killing two of their citizens. However, Bucky fought his way out of prison and escaped.

Upon his return to the United States, Bucky nearly died fighting the Asgardian Serpent. He seized the opportunity to fake his death, returning to his Winter Soldier identity to protect Steve's legacy. Bucky felt he needed to separate Captain America's symbolic importance from the revelations about his past.

FORGOTTEN BY BLACK WIDOW

During Bucky's days as a brainwashed assassin, one of the few bright spots in his life was Natasha Romanova. While training several Black Widow recruits in the Red Room, the two future Avengers shared a brief romance doomed by their superiors discovering it.

Once he regained his mind, the Winter Soldier rekindled his relationship with Black Widow. However, the pair faced another ex-Soviet assassin named Leo Novokov who reactivated Natasha's Red Room programming and ordered her to attack Bucky. While Bucky, the Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. freed Natasha and restored most of her mind, she lost her memories of her years with Bucky.

HYDRA'S CAPTAIN AMERICA 

When the reality-warping Cosmic Cube took the form of a girl named Kobik, she secretly rewrote reality to turn Steve Rogers into a lifelong member of Hydra. Kobik also befriended the Winter Soldier and tried to convert him into a Hydra loyalist by sending him back to World War II in THUNDERBOLTS (2016) #11 by Jim Zub and Jon Malin.

Bucky initially felt eager to relive his glory days but was horrified to discover Captain America working alongside Baron Zemo's son and pledging allegiance to Hydra. When Steve asked him to join Hydra, Bucky tearfully refused and was sentenced to certain death. As a frustrated Kobik approached Bucky, he explained to her the damage she had done, which overloaded her powers.

This encounter set Kobik on the path to restoring the real Steve Rogers, who defeated his Hydra doppelganger.

WINTER SOLDIER'S TEENAGE SIDEKICK

Bucky learned to be a hero as Captain America's sidekick. However, when the Winter Soldier took a teenage sidekick under his wing, it ended on a much darker note. Bucky met RJ Boyle while helping reformed criminals get a fresh start in WINTER SOLDIER (2018) #1 by Kyle Higgins and Rod Reis. After growing up as a Hydra supporter, RJ killed a Hydra defector. Bucky took the teen in and the pair defeated the villainous Spot together.

However, their relationship disintegrated when a Hydra agent called Mr. Colt showed RJ pictures of Bucky standing over his father's corpse. Although his father's death was an accident, RJ attacked Bucky and murdered Mr. Colt. As RJ ran away, Bucky felt devastated that he failed to help the teenage boy.

BUCKY'S REVOLUTION

The Winter Soldier eventually turned his attention to the Outer Circle, a covert group that quietly influenced world events throughout the 20th Century. After infiltrating their ranks, Bucky took the codename Revolution to end their Century Game from the inside.

As a member of the Outer Circle, Bucky played an indirect role in the death of Roger Aubrey, one of Steve Rogers' old teammates. He also found himself at odds with Sam Wilson when he teamed up with the White Wolf in CAPTAIN AMERICA: COLD WAR ALPHA (2023) #1.

To the disapproval of both Captains America, Bucky made way for Ian Rogers, Steve's adoptive son and Sam's former partner, to take over Dimension Z. After he finally took the Outer Circle down, Bucky revealed that disappointing Steve was the hardest thing he ever did.

DOCTOR DOOM DESTROYS BUCKY'S HOMETOWN

Bucky assembled a new Thunderbolts team to take out the Red Skull permanently. While the heroes ultimately succeeded, their mission took them through Latveria, putting them in Doctor Doom's crosshairs.

Shortly after, Doom became Sorcerer Supreme and took over the world in ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM (2025) #1. As Emperor, he asked Bucky to lead his secret police force. Bucky refused and instead tried to destroy Doom's arsenal of nuclear bombs.

However, Bucky inadvertently activated a trap Doom set for him, launching a nuclear bomb towards his hometown of Shelbyville, Indiana, in THUNDERBOLTS: DOOMSTRIKE (2025) #1 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Tommaso Bianchi.

The attack vaporized one of the last remnants of Bucky's past, killing 20,000 civilians in the process. To make matters worse, Doom then framed Bucky for the attack, making him one of the most wanted men on the planet.

Want to read more about Bucky Barnes' life? Join Marvel Unlimited for instant access to 30,000+ comics on the Marvel Unlimited app or on the web, with digital issues spanning Marvel Comics classics to ongoing series!